


unprocessed emotions

by hamifihekrix



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: AU, Assassination plot, F/F, Fluff, No actual violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:33:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27392758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamifihekrix/pseuds/hamifihekrix
Summary: maki has been ordered to assassinate a famous piano player. but after hearing the soft melodies from her piano, she has a change of heart.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Harukawa Maki
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33





	unprocessed emotions

The target is a woman called Kaede Akamatsu. She is a famous pianist, known for brilliant performances that attract people from all walks of life. 

The assassin’s name is Maki Harukawa. She’s killed many people, even friends, due to the orders she receives. 

In the middle of Kaede’s piano performance, Maki is supposed to assassinate her. Apparently, a big politician is watching in on this performance that Maki’s higher ups want to scare. The why doesn’t matter to Maki. It hasn’t in a long time. When she receives orders to kill someone, she always does it to the best of her abilities. 

So why is it so difficult right now? 

Sitting in the middle of Kaede’s performance, Maki finds herself being swayed by the grandeur of the keys. Rhythmically, there is something that speaks out to the heart Maki thought she had lost. 

Sitting in the back of the massive auditorium, Maki was told that she would be safe to prepare herself and her weapon in the back, as no one would be able to take their eyes off Kaede. Now, Maki finds herself unable to take her own eyes off of her. Just listening to Kaede’s fingers cross the piano keys, Maki feels like her cold heart is being coddled. Something inside of her likes the feeling. 

For the first time since the beginning of her assassin training, Maki begins to panic. Why can’t she do it? She has been told that if she ever can’t finish a job, she has to commit suicide before being found out. But right now, all she wants to do is talk to the woman making her feel like this. 

She feels like a teenager again, getting all flustered. Does everyone experience this kind of thing in their lives? She feels so weak, but… it feels kind of nice. Instead of thinking about how she can take someone’s life away, she’s worrying about gaining the courage to talk to a woman. If anyone saw her like this, there’s no way they’d believe she’s an assassin. 

She thinks that she is capable of sneaking into Kaede’s room backstage. It makes her feel creepy, for some reason, but she can’t see any other way for her to talk to Kaede. She puts pressure on herself to make sure she doesn’t come off like she’s a stalker. Acting cool and calculated would probably be the best route to take. 

Maki is aware that Kaede was the Ultimate Pianist back in her highschool days. Perhaps she can tell a lie about being an ultimate student, too. Well, an ultimate talent different from her actual talent. She thinks… she’ll go with Ultimate Child Caregiver. It works well enough, she supposes. 

Leaving her weapon behind, for someone else to find, she leaves the auditorium. If she remembers the floorplan that she was given, there is an entrance to Kaede’s room through the main hall of the building. There will be security, of course, but that isn’t a problem for her. 

Using her memorization skills, she finds her way to the hallway next to her destination. As she had predicted, there are security members there. She wonders to herself what the best approach would be. For once in her life, she doesn’t want to kill them, so she thinks sneaking up behind the two of them is the best option.

Baiting each one out separately, she knocks both of the security guards out. She should have more than enough time to converse with Kaede. 

Sitting in Kaede’s room, she sits. And waits. And waits. 

She can still hear Kaede’s piano coming from afar, though it’s a lot softer than before. It’s almost soothing to hear. To the tune of this gentle melody, Maki thinks over what she’s going to say. A single slip-up could result in one of two worst case scenarios: Maki having to kill Kaede, or Maki being killed for not killing Kaede. Maki knows how much she’s risking. But… she thinks it’s worth it. 

Suddenly, she hears what definitely sounds like the climax of the performance. Preparing herself, making sure she looks fine, Maki takes a deep breath. 

Soon, Kaede walks through the door, immediately seeing Maki sitting in the middle of the room.

“Uh… w.. what are you doing here?”

“You’re Kaede Akamatsu, the ex-Ultimate Pianist, correct?”

“Well, I mean, yes, that’s correct, but I’d like you to answer my question.”

“I’m Maki. Maki Harukawa. The ex-Ultimate Child Caregiver.”

“Oh, phew. You should have said you were also an ex-Ultimate! Though I don’t think I’ve ever heard of you… oh, but that’s fine!”

“I was never a people person, and my talent isn’t one that draws large crowds. I wanted to come see the performance of another ex-Ultimate.” Maki looks away for a second. “I wasn’t disappointed.”

“Are you the reason the security was missing for this area?” Kaede asks with not even a little bit of malicious intention in her face.

“Technically. We had a nice discussion, and they left. I wanted to talk to you.”  
“Oh, well, what did you want to talk about?”

“I don’t… really know. I just knew I wanted to talk to you.”

“I see, I see,” Kaede says, placing her head in her palm. Suddenly, her eyes flash open. “Oh, I know! Did you want to ask me on a date? I have people do that all the time, for some reason.”

“Of course not. Don’t flatter yourself that much.” Maki says, using her training to make sure that Kaede doesn’t realize that she was completely right. 

Kaede sticks her tongue out at Maki. It surprises Maki, she’s never had someone do that to her before. Immediately after, though, Kaede giggles a little bit. Maki can see from the subtle expressions on her face that Kaede acted that way out of some form of kindness.

“It’s a shame, though.” Kaede sighs, “Most of the people I get asking me out are guys, and I just don’t know how to tell them that I’m not interested in dating guys. Is that weird?”

“I don’t see why it would be.” 

“So, when I saw you, I was like, wow, someone who’s actually my type is here. But that was a silly misunderstanding on my part! I should have assumed you were here for something else. You said you don’t know why you want to talk to me, though, right?”

“That’s not exactly accurate. I know why I’m here and what I want to say. What I don’t know is how to say it.” 

Kaede jumps to Maki’s position and brings her face very close to hers. “I know exactly what you mean.” 

Suddenly moving back away, Kaede points her finger at her own face, laughs, and says, “it happens to me all the time! Sometimes I’m trying to think of what I want to say to someone but my brain just draws a total blank! It’s weird.” 

“For now, let’s just say that I was curious as to what another ex-Ultimate student was like. Is that good enough for you?”

“I mean, sure! But you picked one of the least interesting ex-Ultimates to get interested in.” 

“What makes you say that?”

“My talent is pretty much all I am, I’m afraid”, Kaede says with a slightly pained expression on her face, “They call me ‘Piano Freak’, y’know?”

“I don’t see why that’s an issue.”  
“You don’t?” says Kaede, as her face shifts to a more surprised stance. 

“No. It’s your talent, who has the right to say you shouldn’t be interested in it?”

“Well, if you say so! Actually, on that topic, there’s this really good composition I wanna share with you that reminds me of you. Is that weird? I don’t know what it is, but even though we’ve only been talking for a short amount of time, I feel like I really know you!”

Maki, knowing full well that she essentially has not talked about herself at all, takes note of this. Is this Kaede asking her to be a bit more open? She’s normally incredibly secretive, but for Kaede…

“Is there anything you’d like to know about me?” 

“Um… let’s see… oh, I know! How did you come to be known as the Ultimate Child Caregiver?”

“I grew up in an orphanage, there was a system in place that had the older kids taking care of the youngest. For a while, I was the only one old enough to take care of the younger kids. I picked up a lot due to that. I don’t get the title of Ultimate Child Caregiver, though. I don’t even like kids, and I don’t get why they like me.”

“Oh, that’s an easy question! Did you know that kids are much more honest than adults? I’m sure they’ve just noticed how warm your heart is, and how much love you have to give!” 

“Huh?” Maki says, ever-so-slightly blushing, “I doubt that’s true.”

“Hmm, no, now that I’ve said it out loud, I’m sure that I’m right! You can’t convince me otherwise!!” Kaede flashes a wide smile towards Maki. This makes her feel something, something special, like nothing else even matters when she can see Kaede’s smile like this. 

“How did you become known as the Ultimate Pianist?” 

“Oh, well, I’m, uh, surprised that you’re asking, but… I really love the piano! I’ve been playing it since I was a tiny little kid, and eventually people started thinking I was good at it. That’s not the only reason I stayed with it though! I love seeing the faces of people when they hear me playing. They’re most of the reason I do it. If I wasn’t able to see their happy faces as they’re surrounded by the music, I don’t think I’d have the motivation to keep playing!”

“I… heard you playing before. You’re…… really good.” Maki says, avoiding Kaede’s eyes and blushing slightly. Still not blushing a whole lot, but it’s definitely getting more uncontrollable as time goes by. 

“I guess! But let’s stop talking about boring old me. I think you’re more interesting.”

“That’s weird, as I think you’re the more interesting one here.” 

“I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree, then, huh?”

“I guess.”

An awkward silence fills the room. Suffocating, the two try to think of things they could talk about aside from the other person. The two of them are both struggling. 

“This won’t do, this won’t do at all.” Kaede mutters.

“Huh?”

“I am about to ask you a question about yourself, and you’re going to have to answer me whether you think you’re interesting or not!” 

“Sure, I guess.”

“What are your hobbies!?” Kaede says with a much more intense expression than is called for from this relatively simple question.

“Oh. I don’t have any hobbies.”

“What?? That can’t be true!”

“What about you, then. What are your hobbies?”

“W… well, I, uh... “

“You don’t have any either, right?”

“That’s-!”

“Completely true, I’m sure. Ultimates like us very rarely have hobbies. There’s our talent and nothing else.”

“There must be something else you enjoy other than taking care of kids, right??”

“Who said I liked taking care of kids in the first place?”

Kaede sighs and, slightly mockingly, and with a slight smile, says, “Are you being difficult on purpose?”

“Of course not. I’m just not interesting.”  
“I don’t think that’s true! I think there’s just something you’re not telling me. How did you manage to take out all of the security around this room if you aren’t interesting? That kind of thing doesn’t seem like something the Ultimate Child Caregiver would pick up, and if you’re saying you don’t have any hobbies, it just makes me wonder!” 

“You’re very deductive, Kaede. Did you know that?” Maki pauses. “Fine, I’ll tell you something. But I don’t want you to freak out after I tell you this, okay?”

“You have my word!”

“My Ultimate talent wasn’t that of the Ultimate Child Caregiver. I was actually known as the Ultimate Assassin.”

“Ah, I see. I had suspected that you weren’t the Ultimate Child Caregiver but I… wasn’t expecting such a contrasting talent.” 

“I came here on orders to assassinate you.”

Kaede’s eyes widen significantly.

“But… hearing your performance made me think. Even though it’ll put a huge target on my back, I… didn’t want to kill you. But not only that, I didn’t want to ignore my own desires. That’s why I came and talked to you. I guess now that you know, I should give you a warning. Even if I’m taken care of, that doesn’t mean they’re going to suddenly forget about you.”

“This is.. A lot to take in, but… I don’t like how you’re acting like we’ll never see each other again.”

“What do you mean? I assumed you wouldn’t want to see me again.”

“Well, if I’m gonna have a target on me regardless, I’d like to have someone around me who could help me feel safe. Someone who’s strong, smart, who’s name happens to be Maki... “

“Are you sure? Are you sure you would feel safe around me?”

Kaede moves towards Maki. Smiling softly, she places her hand on Maki’s cheek.

“I’d like to get to know you more, Maki. If you’re willing to stick with me, that is..”

“Of course I am!” bursts Maki, very visibly blushing at this point.

“That’s all I want, then.” Kaede brings herself onto Maki’s chest, reaching her arms around her, placing her head on Maki’s shoulder.

Maki doesn’t know how to react. Hesitant, she puts her arms around Kaede, feeling a kind of warmth that is anything but familiar to her.

“You’re a really good hugger,” says Kaede. “I could get used to this.”

“I’d… like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> hiiiiii!!! thank you for reading! if you enjoyed, you can find me [here](https://twitter.com/hamifihekrix) or [here!!](https://www.instagram.com/hamifi.hekrix/?hl=en)


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